


seasons don't fear the reaper

by mixtapestar



Category: Dead Like Me, Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Crossover, M/M, Multi, Non-Violent OC Deaths, Pre-Threesome, Reapers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-20
Updated: 2013-07-20
Packaged: 2017-12-20 07:36:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/884670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mixtapestar/pseuds/mixtapestar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A <i>Dead Like Me</i> AU. When Scott comes back from his reaper vacation, there's a new face at the table. When he agrees to help Isaac cope with his undead existence, he doesn't expect how well they'll hit it off.</p>
            </blockquote>





	seasons don't fear the reaper

**Author's Note:**

> Written for christhemsworth's [Spice Up Your Life ficathon](http://christhemsworth.livejournal.com/823.html)! Prompt was: **Ensemble, maybe Scott/Isaac with/or Scott/Allison + Dead Like Me au, in which the werewolves are all reapers.** I had just finished watching _Dead Like Me_ and pretty much had to write this.

When the anniversary of Scott's death comes along just a few weeks following a lot of drama and Derek's recruit of two new reapers, Boyd and Erica, Derek decides to give Scott a week off.

When Scott returns to the diner the next week, there's a new face at the table.

Derek, as usual, is all business. "I need you to give Isaac a ride to his reap," he tells Scott. "Make sure he gets the job done."

Scott eyes the new guy, who has his arms crossed and is already shaking his head. He doesn't look at Scott, just continues to glare at Derek and says, "No way, I'm not doing it."

"You will do it," Derek says, slapping the post-it down in front of him, "and you'll shut up about it."

Derek turns his gaze on Scott, eyebrows raised in lieu of a question. Scott sighs and accepts his fate. "Yeah, fine, I'll do the ride along."

"You can drive me wherever you want," Isaac says, "I'm still not doing it. I resign. Find someone else."

"Dude, what's the issue?" Boyd says. "This gig is a second chance at life. Don't fuck it up."

"Who says I even wanted the first one?" Isaac mumbles. Scott frowns. They could all be downers on their off days, but this pessimism about life in general was new.

"Don't be such a baby," Erica admonishes, eating the fries off Isaac's plate.

"What kind of car do you drive?" Isaac says wearily, finally uncrossing his arms so he can finish his fries before Erica does.

"Bike," Scott says, nodding toward the diner window where his motorcycle's parked.

" _Nice_ ," Isaac says, smiling for the first time. Scott blinks at the transformation; it's like his whole face has changed. "I guess I can ride with you."

"And do the reap on time," Derek reiterates.

"Yeah, we'll see," Isaac says. Scott, remembering what it was like when _he_ started reaping, figures he's in for a long day.

******

After a lot of arguing and an unfortunate, belated reap, Scott decides they both need a break. He drives them both to the park and buys hot dogs from the stand, settling on his favorite bench in the shade.

They sit and watch some kids playing frisbee for a while, the silence just one step away from comfortable, until Isaac finally sighs. "Look, I'm sorry," he says. "I know it's not your fault I have to do this. I'm just… adjusting. This isn't exactly what I thought I'd be doing this week."

Scott thinks back to how he felt right after he'd died, trying to remember how he felt. "What did you think you'd be doing this week?"

"Midterms, actually," he says with a laugh that Scott returns. "Don't get me wrong, I was never great at studying. I just-- I guess I miss the normality of it."

Scott nods. "Totally. The routine was nice. Wake up, hate everyone, learn some shit, do something with the people you don't hate, sleep, repeat."

"Yeah, those were the days," Isaac says with a smirk.

"Seriously though, if you want to go back to school, we can help you out. You'd have to find a new school, but it's doable. There's some kind of reaper magic that makes us look just young enough, just old enough, or just plain enough that people tend not to ask us too many questions."

Isaac ponders that for a moment, finishing off his hot dog, and Scott gives him the time he needs. "I dunno," he finally says. "It all seems pretty pointless now. I just want there to be something."

"You've got time," Scott says, bumping their shoulders together. "You'll figure it out."

Isaac smiles at him, and Scott looks away before he can start thinking stupid thoughts. His eyes follow the running trails almost absently, and he's lost in his own head for a while until Isaac speaks up.

"So who is she?"

"Who?" Scott says, breaking his reverie and concentrating on finishing his lunch.

"The girl you keep staring at."

 _Busted_. For a second, Scott thinks about not telling him. Isaac's new enough that he could probably be convinced to let it go. But it was Scott's stupid decision to take him to the park, so he can really only blame himself. "Her name's Allison," he explains. "I met her the day after I died."

"So why don't you go talk to her?"

Scott doesn't answer right away, concentrating on licking ketchup off his thumb. He catches Isaac watching him intently, though, and it's the kind of intent that tends to get him in trouble. He decides talking might be easier. "Derek doesn't like us to get too close to the living."

"Why not?"

Scott shrugs. "There are consequences. We don't exactly make a habit of hanging out in the safest spaces." He stares at his hands for a moment, contemplating his non-life. He walks away from soon-to-be crime scenes on an almost daily basis, and yet the thing that still has rules is his love life. "I almost got Allison killed before her time."

"So now you spy on her while she goes for a run. That's a good alternative," Isaac says, knocking his shoulder against Scott's.

"Shut up," Scott says with a laugh, ducking his head.

"Seriously though, I don't get it," Isaac says. "Why do you always do what Derek says?"

"It's not like that. Derek's been doing this a lot longer than we have. If I choose to listen to his advice, it's because I trust him."

Isaac sighs, slumping down a little on the bench and tilting his head back. "Yeah. Maybe one day I'll trust someone too."

"I hope so," Scott says.

******

The next day, Derek gives Scott a reap he can take care of early in the morning, because he needs him to accompany Isaac again. Despite Derek's assurances that this one should go better, Scott is unsure. Still, when they get to the house for Isaac's reap, he pastes on a smile and does his best to be encouraging.

"Grocery delivery!" Scott says cheerfully when the woman, L. Sherwood, answers the door. He ignores Isaac's side-eye.

"Oh, you're early!" Ms. Sherwood exclaims, moving aside to let them in.

"I assure you we're not," Isaac mumbles under his breath. Scott glares at him.

There is a lot of movement as they carry in the bags and help by unpacking them, but Scott notes that Isaac always moves to keep Scott in between himself and Ms. Sherwood.

When the groceries are put away and they're left alone, Scott prepares himself for another argument. Instead, Isaac looks pensive and speaks up first.

"I just don't understand why they all have to die," Isaac says, staring at the pictures on the wall while they wait for the lady to come back with their tip.

"I didn't either," Scott says. "Sometimes I still don't. But what we do isn't about killing. We make it so they can die peacefully even if their death isn't peaceful." Scott nods encouragingly as they hear the lady padding back down the hallway. "That's why it's important not to hesitate."

Isaac's mouth flattens into a grim line, but he steps forward. His hands are shaking as he reaches out to accept the change, but after a couple aborted movements, he touches her arm gently. "I hope you have a good day, ma'am."

She smiles and thanks them, and Scott wraps an encouraging arm around Isaac's shoulders as they step outside. They wait just outside the fence and admire her garden for a few minutes before the gravelings do their work, and her ethereal counterpart joins them outside.

"I suppose that's it for me," she says contemplatively, staring into her window. She turns to Isaac and smiles. "I just want to thank you both for all your hard work."

"We're not actually delivery boys, ma'am," Isaac says, leaning a little into Scott.

"I know," she says, still regarding them with that kind smile of hers. "But it was nice to see such kind faces before my time was up."

She steps away, into that mystic place that reapers aren't yet allowed to go, and Isaac stares after her with a look of bewilderment. "Huh," he says.

"You okay?" Scott asks.

"Yeah," he says thoughtfully before turning back to Scott. His hand finds Scott's back, almost hesitantly, and he lets Scott guide them away. "I think I'm starting to get it."

******

"I think I'll do the blueberry pancakes today, Lydia. Thanks," Scott says the next morning, handing over his menu.

"You got it. Anything for you?" she directs at Isaac, who in Scott's experience has yet to order anything for himself. Given her bored look, Lydia expects no different today.

He prepares to order something on Isaac's behalf, but this time Isaac meets Lydia's eyes and says, " _Coffee_ ," so desperately that Scott can't help but laugh.

"Coffee it is," Lydia says, bringing over a mug right away and filling it.

"Bless you," Isaac says, downing his first cup immediately. Lydia inclines her head and fills it again before walking away.

Boyd and Erica join them a few minutes later, once they've got a stack of creamers almost 7 levels high in the center of the table.

"Morning," Isaac says absently, adding another carefully to the top.

"Morning," Erica says. "You're in a better mood today."

"Coffee," Scott and Isaac explain simultaneously. They both dissolve into giggles and accidentally knock over the right side of the creamer tower.

"I'm not sure I prefer the good mood," Boyd says darkly as Derek joins them, knocking the table and scattering the creamers. Scott glares at him, sure that it was on purpose.

"How did it go yesterday?" Derek asks.

"Fine," Isaac says a bit curtly. He starts scooping up the creamers to put them back in their bowl.

"Better," Scott adds, helping him clean up the mess. He smiles when Isaac looks at him and notices how the tension drains out of him.

"Good," Derek says, handing out post-its to Boyd, Erica, and then Isaac. "Because you're on your own today."

Isaac frowns at the name, address, and E.T.D. in front of him. "Why can't Scott go with me?"

"Because he has his own reap across town at the same time," he says, setting a post-it in front of Scott's pancakes.

Isaac stares between the two post-its for a second, not responding. "Can he at least drop me off?"

Scott smiles into his pancakes, something warm spreading through his chest. When he looks up, Derek is blinking at the two of them. "I don't care," he finally says, "as long as you do your job."

"Hardly a job if you don't pay us," Boyd points out, and Isaac smiles at him. A little surprised, Boyd smiles back.

"Oh hey, yours is only a couple blocks from that old movie theater," Erica says, pointing at Boyd's note. "I'll come with you, we can see something after."

"Sure," Boyd agrees readily.

They continue to chat about what movie to see, and Scott offers up his own opinion and pretends to be interested, only because he doesn't want to be obvious as he listens to Derek's hushed words to Isaac.

"Are you confident you can handle this?" Derek asks.

"No, it's fine, I just-- yeah, I can handle it."

"I can go with you if it's a problem."

Isaac's quiet for a second, and Scott gives Erica and Boyd his opinion on Vin Diesel so that he won't look at Isaac's expression.

"Thanks, but really. I'll do it. You can trust me."

"Okay. Good."

When Scott drops Isaac off, he claps a hand on his shoulder and spouts some encouraging platitudes. He feels ridiculous, but it gets him a smile, albeit a nervous one. "I'll meet you back here in a couple hours. We can go to the park, if you want."

Isaac's smile grows more earnest. "Yeah, sounds awesome."

"Good luck," Scott says, and gets back on his bike.

He worries about him all the way to the hospital waiting room, but then he's forced to pay attention to his reap, because A. Arthur could either be Allen or Austin. Twins. Just his luck.

Allen goes off to the bathroom just before Scott spots the graveling, so he trips his way into the seat next to Austin, apologizing immediately and touching his shoulder. Austin gives him a weary smile and apologizes back even though it was definitely Scott's fault, and Scott feels that familiar pang. Despite everything he's been spouting to Isaac, it still sucks to reap nice people, people that are still young, people who you wouldn't mind being friends with.

He fakes getting a call and walks outside, preferring not to witness the carnage. The soul of Austin Arthur joins him around the block while he's still contemplating taking up smoking. Not like it can kill him now.

Scott's slightly worried that Austin will be one of those guys who wants to stick around for a while, especially because of his brother, but he's quickly proven wrong.

"I was diagnosed with terminal cancer last week," Austin explains. "I was here to start treatment, but my brother and I both knew that I didn't have long." He looks back toward the hospital, but makes no move to go back in. "I told him I preferred to die quickly, with less pain, so this kinda worked out. Funny, I would've thought a fluorescent light falling on me would've been much more painful."

"Yeah, that was me," Scott admits. "I grabbed you before you could feel that pain."

"Appreciate it, bro," Austin says, then walks toward the light. Scott can't help smiling. Austin Arthur, not a bad guy.

When Scott meets back up with Isaac, Isaac doesn't say anything at first. He just gets on the bike, wraps his arms snugly around Scott, and leans his head onto Scott's shoulder.

"Park?" Scott asks. When he hears a somewhat positive sound muffled into his shoulder, he smiles and drives off.

At the park, Scott fills the silence by talking about his reap. Isaac stays quiet, but Scott can sense him relaxing more as he works through his story. He's a little surprised at how much better he feels, too, just talking.

"It was okay," Isaac finally says about his reap. "I… The woman was like 35. She'd done so much with her life, but… she said she had plans, that she didn't understand why it was over."

Scott makes a sympathetic noise and shifts closer on the bench.

Isaac keeps staring straight ahead, saying, "What could I say? I didn't even do anything when I was alive." He laughs hollowly. "Even now, I'm barely brave enough to do _this_ , and I wouldn't be if Derek didn't make me."

"I don't think that's true," Scott says quietly, and Isaac's eyes snap to his like he'd forgotten Scott was there. "What did you tell her?"

"What makes you think I told her anything?"

"She'd still be here if you hadn't."

"Oh," Isaac says, and takes a second as if to think about that. "I dunno, I just let her talk, mostly. Sounded like she took every opportunity she was given. I just pointed that out."

"See? You are good at this," Scott says with a smile.

"Hm," Isaac says noncommittally. "Never been good at anything before."

Scott doesn't think that's true, either. "That kind of thinking is probably why you won't let yourself try anything."

Isaac's look is reticent. "Yeah."

"Don't worry about it," Scott says. "You'll find something to do when the time's right."

They stare out into the distance for a while, Scott watching some guys playing soccer. It's nice out, and he's glad just to be outside.

"Hey, can I ask a favor?" Isaac says, breaking the silence.

"Sure," Scott says, reigning in his thoughts.

"Do you think we could, I mean," he stops and doesn't look Scott in the eye. "I just thought we could do this every day, you know, kind of talk about whatever we deal with? I dunno, it's probably a waste of your time--"

"No," Scott interrupts, "I think that's a great idea."

"Really?"

"Yeah, even the ones that come easy are easier when you talk about them. I'd totally be down for that."

Isaac smiles, and the sun comes out. He's not being poetic; that's what actually happens. It still feels significant. "Man," Isaac says, "I wish I'd known you when I was alive."

Scott hums and looks back at the soccer players, sighing before disagreeing. He almost doesn't catch Isaac's hurt look, which is quickly masked. "No, no, I mean, things get complicated. With the living, you know, after you die. Most of the time you can't even talk to people you knew when you were alive."

"You just look different to them, though, right?"

Scott shakes his head. "More to it than that. If you try to tell them who you are or talk about anything from your past, your tongue will sorta stop working, and it's really uncomfortable. Plus you usually forget the memory you were gonna talk about entirely."

"Ouch," Isaac says. "Makes me glad I don't have anyone from back then to talk to."

"Yeah," Scott says quietly.

Isaac looks apologetic. "You have someone," he realizes.

"No, it's not-- actually, after my best friend figured out who I was on his own, we figured out a way to make it work."

"That's cool," Isaac says as a breeze kicks up. He scoots closer to Scott on the bench until their knees are touching. "How'd you work that out?"

"Derek has to be there."

Isaac pulls a face. "Why Derek?"

"Well, it doesn't have to be Derek. It could be any reaper I guess. But whenever we want to talk about something from our past or whatever, we have to say it to Derek instead."

Isaac snorts. "And he puts up with that?"

"Yeah, actually. He's been really good about it. Plus he helps keep us from accidentally breaking the rules."

"What happened to not interacting with the living?"

Scott smiles, his eyes searching absently for Allison on her usual trail. "Sometimes there are loopholes."

Isaac hums thoughtfully. "So tell me more about this best friend. When do I get to meet him?"

Scott thinks about how Isaac will react to Stiles and smiles broadly. "He's on vacation with his dad right now, but he should be back next week."

"Sweet," Isaac says with a smile of his own. They're close enough that Scott can see the way his chapped lips stretch into the smile.

When he catches himself staring, he looks away, instantly spotting Allison on the trail. Isaac notices and starts teasing him, and it's better that way.

******

"So the car I've been sleeping in got towed this morning," Isaac says, and Scott almost chokes on his waffle.

"You've been sleeping in a _car_?" Erica says.

Isaac shrugs. "Better than the street."

Derek sighs. "We'll help you find some place to live."

"He can live with me," Scott says, a little too quickly. He glances around at everyone's expressions, varying from surprised to a little smug. Uh oh, Erica's on to him. He doesn't even look at Isaac. "If he gets a job," he qualifies belatedly.

He half-expects Isaac to balk at that, what with all his talk of finding his place. But Scott never had a lot of money growing up, and it's his belief that you have to earn your fair share of anything you do. He can't make concessions for people just because he maybe kinda enjoys their company, even if he does have an extra bedroom.

Isaac doesn't complain, though, just asks, "What kind of job can I even get? Kinda hard to give references when all your past bosses think you're dead." His knee bumps against Scott's under the table, but Scott chooses to ignore it.

"You _are_ dead," Derek reminds him. "List a couple of us as your references."

He does, and he ends up scoring a job as a construction worker a week later, coming home with a paystub that he proudly shoves in Scott's face.

"Ugh, you reek," Scott says, taking a step back. Isaac's smile remains steadfast. "Yes, okay, we'll celebrate, but first you gotta take a shower."

"Always so eager to get me naked," Isaac quips, patting Scott on the shoulder before he heads back toward the bathroom.

Scott absolutely does not blush.

******

It isn't long before they form a routine. They go to the diner together in the morning, and they talk about their day at night. Sometimes Scott doesn't see Isaac at all in the day in between, but other times they go to the park, or even go along on each other's reaps when possible. He finds himself looking forward to their evenings together, playing video games or complaining about work or falling asleep on the couch during a marathon of something on Netflix. Sometimes the thought of it is the only thing that gets him through a tough day.

Still, he doesn't realize how close he and Isaac have become until Stiles points it out.

"Dude, shut up," Scott says, blushing and avoiding eye contact with Derek. "He's going to be here any minute."

"It's not an insult!" Stiles insists. He turns to Derek. "Seriously, tell him how much they're married."

"I refuse to be a part of this," Derek says, flipping through a paperback from Stiles's shelf.

Stiles scoffs. "I think you're implicated by being our translator, but okay."

Scott wants to be mad when Stiles greets Isaac with, "If it isn't Scott's better half," but the pleased look it gets from Isaac is kinda worth it.

Isaac doesn't seem to have a lot of patience for Stiles at first, which worries Scott a little, even if it isn't surprising. It doesn't help that Scott has to say things to Isaac or Derek like, "I wonder how my mom's doing," and Stiles answers by telling Isaac or Derek, "I stopped by Scott's old house the other day. His mom made me soup. She's dating a doctor in pediatrics and really seems to like him." It's like when they would have fights in elementary school and would force a mutual friend to play go-between.

"I'm gonna get some air," Isaac says eventually, and Scott doesn't blame him.

"This is going well," Derek says, almost a quarter of the way through the paperback. Just because he's their go-between doesn't mean he has to listen.

"Dude," Stiles says to Scott, ignoring Derek. "You didn't tell me he was super into you."

"I did," Derek says, and they both stop and stare at him. "What? I did."

"It's true, he did," Stiles says, and Scott gapes at him. "I thought he was exaggerating, you know Derek."

Scott raises his eyebrows. "Derek doesn't exaggerate."

"Thank you."

"No, I mean, I figured he just didn't know what actual human interaction looked like."

"They're not human," Derek says, ignoring the insult.

"We're sort of human."

"That's not the point," Stiles says.

Scott sighs. "What _is_ the point?"

"What's holding you back? And please don't say Allison."

Scott doesn't answer right away, which gets Derek to look up from his book. "Scott," he says in a warning tone.

"Oh good, thanks for ganging up on me," he says, sticking his hands in his pockets. "It's not Allison, not really. I'm just... still dealing with how that whole thing ended. Isaac's got enough to deal with."

He hears the front door open again and huffs a sigh of relief. Stiles glares at him and Derek still looks like he's on the verge of a speech, but neither of them say anything.

Before the silence can get awkward, Stiles makes a comment about the book Derek's reading, and Derek snips at him because he hasn't gotten that far yet. While they're bickering, Isaac touches Scott's arm and murmurs, "Sorry."

"For what?" Scott says, smiling softly. He's probably the one that needs to apologize. "We can head home in a few."

Isaac shrugs. "No hurry."

Isaac takes a seat on the couch as they tune back in to Stiles and Derek's argument. He plucks the book out of Derek's hands and says, "Yeah, that's not really a spoiler. It says it right here on the back cover."

"See?"

"Well I didn't read the back cover," Derek says, frowning and snatching the book back.

The discussion turns to what constitutes a spoiler, and then the ending of LOST, and on from there. Eventually, Derek's reaper duties take precedence and he has to leave, so they all get ready to go.

"Hey," Stiles says, signaling Scott to hang back for a second. Quietly, he continues, "I know you think you're doing him a favor. But stringing him along without giving him a reason isn't going to help anybody."

"I know," Scott says after a pause.

Stiles claps him on the shoulder. "I'm sure you'll do the right thing. You always do."

Scott can't answer without referring to their past, and for once he's grateful.

******

He knows he should say something. He fully intends to, as soon as the moment's right. But the moment isn't right for a while, and one day he shows up at the park and sees Allison sitting in his usual spot on the bench next to Isaac, both of them deep in conversation. He takes in the way her legs are crossed so that one overlaps Isaac, the way he nods along as she talks with her hands. Panic darts through him, followed quickly by jealousy and a touch of anger before circling back around again to panic.

Isaac spots him before he can dart into the shadows and assess the situation, beaming at him like this isn't the _worst idea_ and waving him over.

Scott shoots him a warning look that he ignores, but when Allison looks over and smiles too, he can't really ignore them _both_.

"Hi," he says warily as he walks up.

"Hey, man."

"Afternoon, Scott," Allison says, her eyes sparkling in a way he hasn't seen in a while. She scoots over to give him a spot on the bench between her and Isaac.

Scott's a little overwhelmed at how good it is to see her smile. "How are you? It's been a while."

"Dude," Isaac says, "you just saw me this morning."

"Not you," Scott says, cutting his eyes at Isaac, who gives him a shit-eating grin.

"I've been fine," Allison answers. "Your roommate was just telling me how you both hang out here after work to decompress. It's so weird, I go for a run just about every day on that path."

"Huh," Scott says, avoiding looking at Isaac at all costs. "Small world."

"Yeah," she says, her look telling him she's not buying that for a second.

"Work go okay?" Isaac says, even though Scott doesn't have a shift until tomorrow morning. He clearly means the reap.

"Yeah, nothing particularly interesting. You?"

Isaac shrugs, a dark look passing through his expression. "It was work."

Scott shares a look with him that makes it clear they can talk about it later.

"Where do you work?" Allison asks Isaac, her hair catching the light as she leans forward.

Isaac smiles and tells her about his construction job, about all the crazy junk they find sometimes on sites, and about the stories he hears from the older workers. Scott's stories from the vet's office seem to pale in comparison, but Allison still seems interested. She tells them both about her archery lessons until Isaac and Scott admit that she could certainly kick their ass, and it's nice. It's all nice. At some point Scott realizes that Isaac's arm is around him on the bench, just barely touching Allison's shoulder, and Allison's legs are crossed with one in front of him now. He feels a warmth that has nothing to do with the sun and smiles to himself as Isaac argues the merits of laser guns over arrows.

"I prefer blades hidden in sleeves," Scott says, which causes Allison to launch excitedly into her thoughts on the latest Assassin's Creed.

And on and on they go, until Allison has sworn she'll kick Isaac's ass at Halo, and Scott starts to worry in the back of his mind what this whole conversation is really going to mean.

"Oh look," Isaac says, "that kid seems to have got his frisbee stuck in a tree. I should probably go help him."

Scott gives him a bewildered look. _Now is not the time._ "You told me you were afraid of heights," he says, accusatory.

"Maybe in a past life," Isaac shoots back, grinning like a loon. "Besides, I think gravity is on my side today. Sometimes there are loopholes."

He follows this up with the most obvious significant look Scott has ever seen. He groans internally and turns to Allison, hoping to distract her before she can notice. "Sorry about him, I swear he just moved in like a couple weeks ago."

"Haven't had a chance to train him yet?"

"He's barely housebroken."

She laughs, tucking her hair back behind her ear. "It's good to see you, Scott."

Scott smiles, feeling a little guilty. "Yeah, you too." A branch snaps in the distance, drawing Scott's gaze, but Isaac isn't even in that tree. Scott shakes off the feeling of foreboding. "Look, I just wanna say… I didn't want us to just end, the way we did. I'm sorry I-- I mean, you deserved better."

He keeps staring at the tree, because Isaac has no reason to be climbing up there except to give Scott this moment with Allison. He appreciates the gesture, but he really wishes Isaac would get down.

"The way things go for me… it's just safer for you to stay away."

When he catches Allison's eye, she's in the middle of an eye roll. "Look Scott, I appreciate the nobility and everything, but I think we established how thoroughly I could kick your ass. Virtually or otherwise." Scott swallows. That shouldn't be so hot. "I can take care of myself. And I know why you feel that way."

"You really don't," Scott insists, breathing a sigh of relief when Isaac hops down from the inner branches of the tree.

"Actually, I _really do_ ," Allison says flatly, and when he turns back to her, she is sporting an unimpressed look. "My best friend Lydia works at the diner where you guys meet. Between the two of us, we figured out you were a reaper ages ago. It's not a stretch to figure out that Isaac is the 'new curly-headed cutie' that Lydia talks about."

Scott can only stare at her, dumbfounded. How long is ages? What does this mean? Does she really think Isaac is cute?

He's still gaping, unable to come up with a response, when Isaac gets back.

"Well, I should get back," Allison says smoothly. She kisses Scott on the cheek and then stands to do the same to Isaac. "I'd love to see you both again. I owe you a virtual ass-kicking."

Isaac's smiling and blushing a little bit as she walks off, but then he sees Scott's somewhat stricken expression.

"What'd I miss?" he asks, and Scott isn't even sure what to say.

"About as much as I did, I think."

******

"Derek's going to kill us," Scott says once they're back home and he's able to process everything properly.

"Derek can't kill us," Isaac says, his voice drifting in from the kitchen. "We're already dead."

"He'll find a way," Scott says darkly. "I can't believe they figured it out!"

"We're not exactly quiet at the diner," Isaac points out, dropping down on the couch next to him and handing him a sandwich. "Lydia's not deaf; she's probably known from day one."

Scott likes that answer, because at least then it's not all his fault, but he's not so sure. "Still, let's maybe keep this to ourselves for now." He digs the remote out from the couch cushions and pulls up Netflix to find something to distract him.

A little while later, he remembers Isaac's look when he'd asked about his reap. "Hey, we never talked about today's reap. How'd yours go?"

"Shh," Isaac whispers, leaning forward with his eyes fixed on the TV screen. "I wanna see how this episode ends."

Scott frowns at Isaac's back, because he's sure Isaac was only half-watching earlier in the episode, but he lets it go. When the credits roll and Isaac immediately stands and clears their plates, disappearing into the kitchen, Scott starts to wonder if he's avoiding the subject.

He decides to bring it up from another angle, following Isaac into the kitchen. "My reap today was pretty easy. Some guy on the bus. I just stumbled past him and brushed his shoulder." Isaac nods, but he doesn't look up from where he's rinsing dishes in the sink. Scott tries again. "How about you?"

Isaac shrugs. "My guy was a jerk. I'm surprised there was a soul to take."

"That sucks. Did he hang around long?"

Isaac scrubs at the plate in his hand viciously, and his voice has a steely edge when he answers. "Longer than he should've."

"Hey, calm down. What did that plate ever do to you?"

Isaac sets the plate aside with more force than necessary and turns to Scott, his jaw clenched. "The guy reminded me of my dad, okay?"

Scott swallows thickly. He has no idea what to say to that. "Is your dad… still alive?"

"Unfortunately," Isaac says with a glare at nothing, arms crossed.

"Oh," Scott says. "Sorry, I didn't--"

"I don't want to talk about it, okay? Just _let it go_ ," Isaac grits out, and he slips past Scott and into his room before Scott can stop him. Scott, feeling helpless, wants to apologize, but when Isaac's door locks audibly he thinks it's pretty clear that saying anything else would probably make things worse.

Scott gives him some time, but by the end of the night, he needs to tell him about his early shift at the vet's office. Tentatively, he knocks on Isaac's door and says softly, "Hey, I'm headed to bed. I just wanted to let you know I've got an early shift tomorrow." He waits and hears some movement, so at least he's pretty sure Isaac's listening. "I'll drop you at the diner, but I can't stay. I'm sure Erica or Boyd can give you a lift from there. Okay?"

"Yeah," comes the answer, a few long seconds later.

Scott knocks once in recognition. "Cool. G'night."

He's on his way back to his room when he hears, "Scott?"

"Yeah?" he says.

Isaac's door stays closed, but he speaks through it. "I'm sorry for blowing up at you earlier. I know you weren't--" He sighs. "I just, I get crazy when it comes to stuff about my dad. I tend to shut down completely. There's… not a great history there."

"It's fine," Scott says, laying his hand against the door. "I get it." He waits, wanting to be sure Isaac is okay, but he doesn't say anything else. "Well, I'm gonna head to bed, but wake me up if you wanna talk. Or not talk. Otherwise I'll see you in the morning."

He waits, and there's no answer, but he's sure Isaac heard him.

He should go straight to bed, but he feels like he should stay up a little longer just in case, so he starts playing Candy Crush on his phone for a while. He hears the sound of the latch when Isaac flips it and opens his door, and then there's some shuffling in the hall before Isaac eases Scott's door open. When Scott sits up further in bed, Isaac sticks his head in and asks in a whisper, "You still up?"

"Yeah," Scott says, and turns to switch on his lamp. "What's up?"

"I, um," Isaac says, entering the room and holding one elbow with his opposite hand, looking hesitant in a way that Scott's never seen on him. "Can I have a hug? It's kinda stupid, but--"

Scott doesn't let him finish that thought, because as soon as he heard the word 'hug' he was pushing up out of bed and walking over to wrap his arms around Isaac. "Hugs are never stupid," he says, and smiles to himself when Isaac relaxes against him.

Isaac lets out a shaky laugh and pulls Scott a little closer. He mutters an apology that Scott dismisses, and after a minute, he pulls away.

"So what did you think of Allison?" Scott asks, sitting on the edge of his bed and motioning for Isaac to sit next to him.

Isaac laughs. "I can see why you like her so much," he says. "That was a lot of fun. Definitely helped me take my mind off things."

"That's good," Scott says. "I'm sorry I pushed you to talk about… everything. If I do that again just shut me down."

"Will do," Isaac says, grinning.

"Okay, I really do have to go to sleep. I mean, as long as you're okay?"

Isaac nods and stands from Scott's bed. "I'm fine. …Thanks, for you know, all of that."

Scott shrugs. "Don't worry about it. What are friends for?"

******

Scott finds the days going by easier now, with random visits with Allison in the park and his usual catch-ups with Isaac. On a random Thursday when Isaac asks Scott to meet back at the diner for dinner, Scott agrees readily. He doesn't know what brought on the idea, but he doesn't question it until he walks into the diner to meet him.

"Allison?" Scott says, surprised, as he approaches the booth and spots her. 

Isaac is there on the other side of the booth, grinning just like he did the first time he pulled a stunt like this. "I invited her!"

Scott thinks about it for a second before deciding to sit on Isaac's side. "Cool. How are things?" he asks them both. He knocks his knee against Isaac's deliberately as soon as he's sure Allison's not looking. Isaac knocks right back, unrepentant.

Allison tells them about her day, and their conversation flows pretty easily from there. When Lydia comes over to take their order, she accuses Allison of slumming it with the two of them.

"She's not wrong," Isaac says.

Allison giggles. "Don't sell yourself short."

Lydia scoffs. "Are you ordering, or should I come back?"

"Ordering," Scott says.

Allison orders breakfast for dinner, while Scott and Isaac both order fried chicken.

"So you guys eat breakfast here every day?" Allison asks after Lydia walks away.

Scott shrugs. "Sometimes we don't stay. But we meet up here every morning, unless Derek says otherwise."

"Derek. He's the broody one, right?"

Isaac snorts. "Yes."

"What?" Allison says, laughing. "I'm going off Lydia's descriptions here. He's in charge?"

Scott fidgets, still feeling guilty about this whole thing. Isaac answers instead, saying, "Yeah. He tells us where to go and who to look for, plus a time."

"Isaac," Scott admonishes, jabbing him in the side.

"What?" he says, shoving back in retaliation. "It's not like there's any use hiding it now." To Allison, he explains, "We're not supposed to tell any normal people such as yourself what we do. Period. So it's no _offense_ that Scott's acting this way. I just figure, if you know the first part you might as well know the rest."

"Thanks," Allison says pointedly. "I appreciate that."

"It could be dangerous," Scott says, defensive. "I just don't want you to get hurt."

"Is this about what happened right before we broke up?" Allison says, her look slightly incredulous. "Because I'm pretty sure that if you could've told me the truth about why you were there, I wouldn't have gotten into that situation in the first place."

Scott sighs. "Yeah, I know. That's what I told Derek after it happened."

"And?" Allison prompts. Scott takes a big gulp of water. He feels like he's breaking every rule he's been given. Isaac's hand finds it's way to Scott's knee and squeezes, and Scott takes comfort from it, even though it's pretty much Isaac's fault they're in this situation.

"And he had a pretty convincing counterargument. Something about how the universe doesn't account for reapers and humans interacting outside of the natural order of things, and after a while, unplanned things could happen."

"Like me being in the path of the falling ladder," Allison surmises.

"You wouldn't have been there if you weren't looking for me."

"Yeah, but that could be true of anyone," Isaac says, cutting in. "Think about it. All the accidental deaths that we deal with, I bet every one could be prevented by some random hypothetical like that."

"But the kind of death we're talking about wouldn't be natural. You wouldn't have been reaped," he says, turning back to Allison. "You'd feel it, and who knows what would happen to your soul."

Allison sits back, comprehension filling her expression. "You take the souls before they can feel their death," she realizes, and it occurs to Scott that he never explained that.

"Yeah," he says, "but we can only take the ones that we know about."

"I get your point," Isaac says, "but Allison didn't die. How do you know someone wouldn't reap her in a similar situation where she's supposed to die?"

Allison nods. "Good question."

"Because it happened to Derek before," he says, going all in with the guilt of telling secrets. "I don't know when or how it happened, but it did, and that's why he doesn't like us to talk to humans."

They all fall silent as that sinks in. While they sit there, Lydia brings over their food and says, "Wow, you're a lively bunch. Who died?"

She's met with three glares in response. "Okay, poor choice of words I guess. It's probably useless to ask if you need anything? Yeah, okay."

"Look," Scott says, "I'm really sorry I never told you anything before. I thought it would make things even worse."

Allison nods. "You should've told me. But I understand why you didn't."

"Does that mean she can't hang out with us anymore?" Isaac asks.

"That's up to you," he tells Allison.

"I already told you, I can take care of myself," Allison says with a smirk, cutting into her pancakes. "The way I see it, my death is no more or less predictable for me now than it was an hour ago. I'll just steer clear of your reaps and watch my back."

Isaac beams at her. "I told you."

"You told me nothing," Scott says.

"Well, I thought it."

"Thanks," Scott tells Allison, "for understanding."

She smiles at him sweetly before turning to Isaac. "So tell me about work," she says, and Isaac launches into his latest story. His voice falters when he relates something to what his dad used to do. He recovers quickly, but Scott still slips his hand over to Isaac's knee and squeezes the way Isaac did earlier.

The rest of their dinner goes well. Amazingly well. Isaac and Allison are hitting it off, so much that it makes Scott a little nervous. But above everything else he just feels relieved, like a weight's been lifted now that Allison knows the whole story.

When Isaac smiles and leans into him after Allison leaves, asking Scott to carry him home, Scott doesn't push him off and make a joke like he normally would. Instead, he smiles back and says, "Thanks."

"For what?"

"You know what." He takes Isaac's hand and pulls him out of the booth. "Come on, let's go home."

******

When Scott takes some time to think about it, he realizes his own selfish attitude has prevented Isaac from really getting close to anyone else. He feels bad about that, so he works it out with Derek so that Isaac can do a reap with someone else one day. That someone turns out to be Erica.

What Scott doesn't expect is just how much changes abruptly after the fact.

Pretty soon Isaac, Erica, and Boyd are exchanging random inside jokes at breakfast, and Scott feels a little proud of himself. He's never personally gotten close to Erica or Boyd, but he's glad his little push helped Isaac make other friends.

But then Isaac starts leaving separately in the mornings, preferring to catch a ride with Erica instead of waiting to ride with Scott. It's a little unexpected, but Scott tries not to let it bother him.

The first time he really starts to wonder if something bigger has changed is when they meet up with Allison at the park. Isaac works it so that Allison can sit in the middle, and Scott knows it might just be a coincidence, but something tells him it isn't. He wonders, not for the first time, if Isaac's developing a thing for Allison.

It isn't until Isaac texts one night to bail on their nightly ritual of talking through their day that Scott realizes it's not just a bad couple of weeks, but Isaac really is kind of ignoring him.

He sits on the couch and stares at his Netflix instant queue for a few minutes, but nothing really catches his eye because he wants Isaac to see everything he can find to watch.

With a sigh, he realizes he'd really rather not be alone tonight. He pulls out his phone and texts Derek to see if he's home.

Half an hour later, he's knocking on Derek's door, trying to mask his sullen expression but not doing a very good job of it, if Derek's look is any indication.

"You want me to call Stiles?" Derek offers up front.

Scott is about to say yes, because he could use the company, but the thing is that he's pretty sure Stiles is going to say the same things he's been saying since he first met Isaac. That Scott is an idiot and that this is all his fault and now he's missed his chance. Plus, Scott trusts Derek. Derek knows way more about this stuff than Stiles does when it comes down to it, so Scott says, "No, I think I'll just hang out here, if that's okay."

Derek nods, and they sit down on his couch and watch TV in pleasant silence for a while. It can't last forever, though, and eventually Derek asks, "So what did you do?"

Scott sighs heavily, wondering if one of the others told him or if he figured it out himself. "I don't know," he admits. "That's what's driving me crazy, man! He just suddenly started shutting me out. I can't explain it." He drops his head into his hands and lets out a muffled groan.

"Well," Derek offers after a few seconds, "maybe he just gave up."

Scott feels a whimpering sound escape his lips against his will, because that's what he's afraid of. But still, he doesn't accept that. "Isaac isn't like that. He wouldn't just decide we can't be friends anymore out of nowhere. I must've done something wrong, I just. I don't know what, or how to fix it."

"Maybe it isn't about you," Derek suggests. "Maybe it's more about him."

And of course. Scott's an idiot. A fucking selfish idiot. Because it hadn't even been that long since Isaac told Scott about his issues related to his father, and then there had been definite hints that Isaac was back in touch with him, and Scott had completely fucking ignored them. Isaac's own admission was that he tended to shut down all lines of communication if he got into the wrong headspace, and dealing with his father was bound to do that.

"I'm an idiot," he finally mutters out loud, then glares at Derek when he makes a noise of agreement.

Now that he thinks about it, he's really happy that he encouraged Isaac to hang out with Erica and Boyd. Isaac's probably shutting him out because he'd pressed the issue before, but at least now he has some people to turn to that wouldn't push him to talk about it. Still, Scott feels guilt all through his body that he drove Isaac away, and he needs to fix it as soon as possible.

"I should head home," he says, grabbing his jacket off the back of the couch. "Thanks for, I mean, yeah. I'll see you tomorrow."

"No problem," Derek says without pressing, which is something Scott figures he should learn how to do. "See you in the morning."

******

Back home, Scott agonizes over what he's going to say, knowing he should at least wait until the morning. He tosses and turns all night, dreaming about conversations that end in yelling and throwing things and in one instance, jello, but when he wakes up he's still resolved to say something.

He just barely manages to catch Isaac when he's halfway out the door, telling him to wait and that it's important. Isaac hesitates briefly, but when he finally waves Erica on, Scott feels the slightest relief.

It doesn't take long for him to explain what he's figured out, that he knows that Isaac's been shutting him out because of his father. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you," he says sincerely. "That you felt like you needed to shut me out. I just want you to know that I'm sorry, and that I hope I can be less selfish and that we can still be friends."

When Scott works up the nerve to look Isaac in the eye, his expression is completely stricken. Scott feels a whole new wave of guilt and quickly says, "No, come on, please don't make that face. Look, you don't have to tell me anything, I promise. I'm not going to press you. It's none of my business!"

"God," Isaac says, finally letting go of the door handle and approaching Scott. "No, I should be the one apologizing. Scott, of course we're still friends. Jesus, this was all Erica's idea, but I shouldn't have been stupid enough to think I could do it right."

Scott's confused. "Huh?"

Isaac takes a deep breath. "Okay. First of all, you're right. There's stuff I've been dealing with… ignoring, really, with my dad. But I didn't even think of that when I decided to do this, I just thought… I thought distance would make me feel better, and it'd just be a couple weeks, but it's killing me, god, I'm so sorry, Scott."

As he repeats his apology, Scott notices how his hands start to shake, and something roars to life in him. "Hey, it's okay," he says, closing the distance between them to still Isaac's hands. He guides them both back toward the couch, crouching down in front of Isaac so he can hold both of his arms until he's sure they've stopped shaking.

After a few minutes, Isaac tells Scott more about his father, and how he started looking into his life after Isaac's death. "It was an accident the first time. I passed him on the street on the way to a reap one day. And then it was like I couldn't help it, I had to see how he was doing."

He doesn't specify exactly what he found, but it's obvious from the way he talks about it that it wasn't great news. Scott has moved to the couch beside him by the time he finishes his explanation, his arm now around the back of the couch with Isaac leaning just slightly into him. When Isaac stops to breathe, Scott fights the urge to say anything, giving him time for that too.

"God," Isaac finally says, breaking the silence with a watery laugh, "I'm a total fucking mess."

Scott can't help but blame himself. If he hadn't been so self-centered lately, worrying about if he was over Allison or if Isaac and Allison might be interested in each other, he would've realized what was happening with Isaac much sooner, before he had a chance to shut Scott out.

When he confesses this to Isaac in a condensed version, Isaac immediately contradicts him. "No, you don't get it. Initially I wasn't, you know, ignoring you because of this." He pauses, and Scott notices a blush spreading across his cheeks. "I thought if I stepped back, it would give you and Allison a chance to get back together. And Erica thought-- Well, she knew that I was crazy about you. She thought if I started ignoring you, maybe you'd realize you had feelings for me and do something about it."

It shouldn't be new to Scott, to hear that Isaac is into him. He's been purposefully ignoring it for months, but he knew it was true. Somehow, though, hearing him say it out loud is completely different, especially after recent events made him question if maybe he'd missed his chance.

"She was on the right track," Scott admits, even though he was already almost there before this went down. "And you weren't, for the record. If I wanted to get back together with Allison, you wouldn't need to give me space to do it."

"But you--"

"No, shut up, it's my turn to apologize," he says, which gets a small smile out of Isaac. "The reason Erica suggested that was because she also knows I'm crazy about you," he admits, noting the surprise on Isaac's face. "And I was still dealing with everything that happened with Allison, and I kept meaning to tell you. But you let me keep getting away with casual flirting, and it just seemed easier to wait. It was stupid, and now we're in this mess."

"Wow," Isaac says, sitting up a little straighter. "So basically, we're dumbasses."

"I'm pretty sure that's what Erica would say," Scott agrees.

"Well, um, you should take as long as you need to get over Allison. I'm not going anywhere."

"Oh, did I not say that?" Scott says. He swallows around his nervousness. "Telling her the truth about everything went a long way toward helping me get through that. And… you were right, about death. That it can't be predicted or prevented, so I shouldn't worry."

"Funny," Isaac says. "Pretty sure you were teaching me that not so long ago."

"Yeah," Scott says with a laugh. "I guess my point is that, you know, I've dealt with what I need to deal with. And I'm ready if you are."

And rather than give a verbal response, Isaac stares at Scott's lips deliberately and licks his own. Scott swears he's done that before, and it's always gotten to him, but today it's like everything's multiplied by 10 because he's not quickly averting his gaze and immediately changing the subject. Instead, he's cracking a smile and dropping his own gaze and chasing Isaac's tongue as it slips back into his mouth.

Isaac groans happily and leans into him with a hand on his chest, making Scott hyperaware of his heartbeat as their kiss deepens. When he pulls at Isaac's shirt, wanting him closer, Isaac comes easily, shifting until he's straddling Scott on the couch.

"Too fast?" Isaac asks.

"Definitely not," Scott answers, sliding his hands along Isaac's back. "I've been thinking about this."

"Mm, me too," Isaac says, tilting his head down to recapture Scott's lips. The kiss quickly goes from sweet to dirty, and Scott is just contemplating letting his hands roam elsewhere when he recognizes the sound of both of their phones going off at once.

They have texts from Derek, both of them demanding they get to the diner right away because Derek has places to be.

"Seriously?" Isaac groans, dropping his head onto Scott's shoulder. "Can't we play hooky or something?"

Scott is contemplating it, but then Derek's next message, just for him, tells him he has a reap within the hour.

"You know, you could just text us the details," Isaac complains loudly when they get to the diner, "instead of making us come in."

"Paper's more reliable," Derek insists, laying their post-its out on the table. Boyd and Erica have already cleared out.

Scott snatches his up and pulls out his phone to look up the quickest way to get there. Derek doesn't waste any time leaving once he's given them what they need, dropping a few bills on the table and taking off.

Scott groans when he sees where Isaac needs to be and when. "I've got a shift at the vet's office most of the afternoon," he says. "I guess we'll have to pick back up where we left off tonight?"

"Shit," Isaac says, letting his head fall back against the booth. "I signed up for the late shift again tonight. It's too late to get out of it."

"Okay, I've really gotta go," Scott says regretfully. "We'll figure it out. Maybe we'll have time to see each other between reaps or shifts or something?"

They don't. The soul Scott takes lingers way longer than the average, and not even in an 'understanding and accepting his death' kinda way. He's just whining that he'll never taste chocolate ice cream again and that type of thing. It gets to the point where Scott wants to snap that maybe they'll have chocolate ice cream in heaven, but since he's not even sure of heaven's existence, he can't quite bring himself to do it.

He gets to work with minutes to spare, just barely having enough time to text Isaac. _Whiniest reap ever. Hope yours went better. See you tonight. :)_

Back at home, Scott waits up and keeps checking his phone, but as it gets later and later, he's fairly certain Isaac's not gonna make it home at a decent hour.

When he can't wait any longer, Scott shoots off a text. _should I wait up for you?_

The response comes within minutes. _gonna be a couple more hours. we're trying to finish tonight because of storms all week. :( sorry_

 _it's okay. I'll see you in the morning,_ Scott texts before putting his phone on silent.

A couple hours after Scott falls asleep, he finds himself being shaken from a really weird dream where he's pretty sure there were wolves and magic.

"Hey," Isaac whispers as he comes into focus. "Sorry, I just really wanted to say goodnight."

"You're soaked," Scott observes.

"Yeah, the storms started sooner than we thought," he says, laughing. He leans in to kiss Scott, softly and then a little more thoroughly as Scott wakes up further, but then he pulls back, murmuring, "Goodnight."

Scott grabs onto his arm before he can get too far and says, "Don't."

"What?" Isaac asks, concerned.

"Stay here tonight," Scott says, his voice still a little slurred from sleep. He fights against a yawn.

Isaac laughs quietly. "Well, I need to shower first."

Scott hums and turns his head into his pillow. "I'm not going anywhere."

He's almost back asleep by the time Isaac crawls into bed beside him, smelling like their generic Walmart-brand soap. He feels the press of Isaac's lips to the back of his neck as he spoons up behind him, and then sleep comes easily.

******

Scott wakes up out of sorts over an hour before his alarm is set to go off. It takes him a second to realize what woke him up, but then he turns over and sees Isaac hunched in on himself on the other side of the bed, facing the opposite direction.

Isaac moves restlessly, lost in sleep but bothered by whatever he's dreaming. Scott shifts closer to him and lays a hand gently on his arm, murmuring, "Hey, Isaac."

Isaac utters a noise halfway to a whine, and Scott can't help but move even closer, propping himself up on an elbow. He soothes his free hand down Isaac's bare back and urges, "Wake up, Isaac, hey. You're having a bad dream."

When Isaac jolts awake, his body straightens, and he turns onto his back and looks Scott in surprise.

"Sorry to wake you," Scott says softly. "I think you were having a nightmare."

Isaac swallows, his eyes darting over Scott's face for a while as his breathing slows to a normal rate. "Thanks," he eventually says, easing into a more comfortable position as Scott settles in next to him, his hand on Isaac's stomach.

"You should get some more sleep," Scott suggests. "Still got a little bit before we need to be up."

"Okay," Isaac says, but he reaches up to cup Scott's face in his hand. He stops there, licking his lips, and Scott leans in to kiss him, morning breath be damned.

Isaac responds in kind, tongues wrestling and hands wandering until Scott mouths at Isaac's neck while Isaac murmurs, "This isn't sleeping."

"You started it," Scott says. "I can stop if you--"

"No," Isaac says emphatically, pulling Scott closer until he willfully moves so that he's hovering over Isaac. "That's better."

He tries to hold himself up, but Isaac keeps pulling at his shoulders as they kiss until finally he gives in to the urge to put his weight down. The teasing pressure against his mostly-hard cock is almost unbearable, and he shifts slightly against Isaac to give himself just that little bit of friction.

"Yeah, c'mon," Isaac mumbles, his hands suddenly pushing their way down to Scott's ass so that he can hold him closer and grind against him, his own erection becoming immediately obvious.

"Fuck, yeah," Scott says, about as eloquent as he can be right now. Their hips shift restlessly against each other while they kiss, but then Scott has to ask, "Can we maybe get rid of the clothes?"

"I thought you'd never ask," Isaac says with a smirk, his hands pushing at Scott's boxers immediately. Scott moves back on his knees, and it's the work of a few seconds before they're naked. Scott looks on appreciably and notices Isaac licking his lips as he looks back.

They reach for each other at the same time, hands palming and pulling at each other's cocks until they're more panting against each other's mouths than kissing. Scott doesn't know what drives him to start teasing, but he finds himself kissing his way down Isaac's chest and over his hips and thighs without ever getting to his cock.

"You're killing me, man," Isaac finally says roughly, which is when Scott looks up through his lashes and smirks before sinking down on the head of his cock.

The sounds Isaac makes are amazing, and Scott's pretty sure he could get off just from this. He uses his hands along with his mouth to do everything he can think of to pull another groan from Isaac's mouth.

He's not sure how far Isaac wants this to go, but so far his cues have been pretty telling. So when he moves to cup Isaac's balls in his hand, he takes a chance and traces his fingers on further to tease around Isaac's hole.

" _Fuck yes_ ," Isaac says immediately, hitching his legs up and apart to give Scott better access. Scott has to pull off just so he can properly enjoy the look on Isaac's face. Isaac meets his eyes, longing written all over his face, and smiles. "I bought condoms on the way to work yesterday."

That really shouldn't turn him on more, but it does. "Y-you did?" Isaac's hips move as he pushes into Scott's hand, which he realizes is now moving teasingly slow over Isaac's dick. Still, he doesn't change his pace.

"I got your text and I just thought-- we were bound to need them eventually."

Scott groans and reaches down to slide his hand over his own cock. The thought of Isaac thinking about this last night while he was at work-- he can't explain how hot it is.

"There's lube in my bedroom," Isaac says.

"Fuck," Scott says, and squeezes the base of his cock. "I've got lube."

Isaac shifts and sits up, leaning in to kiss Scott filthily. "I'll go get the condoms," he says before hopping out of bed.

It seems like forever before he comes back, and Scott fears momentarily that something will happen to interrupt them again. But when he's back in the doorway with kiss-swollen lips and his cock pointed up toward his chest, Scott makes an appreciative noise and meets him halfway.

He's got three fingers slick and pushing into Isaac when his alarm goes off, and he curses violently and fumbles to turn it off with his other hand. It doesn't go as well as he hopes, and it takes three attempts before he's got it off for real. He feels suddenly awkward, slumped across Isaac with his hand at an awkward angle, and then Isaac starts laughing.

Scott feels the awkwardness dissipate at the carefree way Isaac laughs, and he says, "Oh, you think that's funny, huh?"

He rights himself enough to pull his fingers out, push back in, and then twist. Isaac's laugh cuts off with a gasp as he pushes back against the intrusion.

Isaac curses beautifully. "I'll stop laughing if you stop teasing and get on with it."

Scott doesn't need to be told twice. Pushing into Isaac is agonizing in its sweetness, and he feels close to coming just from that first push. He concentrates on breathing for a second and, after checking that Isaac's okay, he starts to move his hips.

It isn't long before his hips are snapping quickly, each thrust a burst of pleasure with both of their shouts mixing in the air. Isaac comes first, his hand moving frantically over his cock, but Scott follows shortly after, slowing down enough to savor the feeling of Isaac clenching around him as he pushes in and rides his orgasm.

There's a long, comfortable pause while they both slump together and catch their breath, but once Scott starts to think about cleaning up, he says, "Pretty sure we're gonna be late to the diner."

"Fuck the diner. Derek can text us just this once," Isaac says, easing Scott onto his back and leaning in to kiss him lazily.

Scott hums in agreement and lets himself enjoy the moment for the time being. Isaac lays against his chest in comfortable silence for a few minutes until Scott speaks up and says, "I'm sorry it took me so long to come around."

"Don't worry about it," Isaac says, pressing a kiss to his chest. "You were worth the wait."

Scott feels a goofy smile spread across his face. "Yeah, you too."

******

EPILOGUE

After a few weeks, once they've settled into a kind of rhythm about how their relationship is going to go, Isaac pokes at Scott while they're snuggled together on the couch and says, "So I've been meaning to ask. About Allison."

Scott groans. "Please don't tell me you're gonna start up with that self-sacrificial bullshit again," he warns. 

"Not exactly," Isaac says, his grin mischievous, and Scott sits up a little straighter. "Don't get mad. It's just a question."

"What?" Scott asks, genuinely intrigued now.

"Hypothetically," he says, "in some alternate universe where everything is the same except we somehow know for sure that Allison wants to date both of us, what... would alternate-universe you think of that?"

Scott's chest constricts a bit when Isaac says 'date both of us' and he almost forgets to breathe for a second. "I... don't know. I think alternate me would need more information."

"It's not a trick question," Isaac says, smiling fondly. "There's not actually a wrong answer. More of a reverse trick question."

"Yeah, but I think he'd need to know what alternate-universe Isaac thought of the idea, too. Like is this something he wants? Or is he just bringing it up because he's hung up on some notion that Scott's not completely happy with the way things are?"

"Definitely not the second one," Isaac says, smirking. When he continues, his voice is softer. "And like I said, it's just a question. Tell me it's a stupid idea, and I'll be happy to never bring it up again."

"And what if it's not a stupid idea?" Scott asks.

Isaac's lips part slightly, and Scott watches as he licks them absently. "Well, then I guess we could talk more."

"I like being with you," Scott says, because he wants that to be clear. "And I think either way, I want us to focus on being together for a while. But, after a while... in this hypothetical, alternate universe... yeah. I think I could go for that."

Isaac's grin is nearly blinding. "Totally, I mean, it really is hypothetical. I don't know what she would think. I just thought, you know, it seemed like an awesome idea, so I thought I'd run it by you."

"It is an awesome idea," Scott agrees. He smirks and lets his hands wander underneath Isaac's shirt. "But it kinda makes me feel like I'm not working hard enough. Are you bored of me already?"

Isaac makes a keening sound as Scott's hand brushes across his nipple. "Definitely not. It's a future possibility, for sure. But I'm happy with the present."

Scott grins wickedly and sets out to make sure that's the case.

THE END


End file.
